Democratic Republic of Congo said it will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Dec. 20, 2023, kicking off a year of complex preparations in the vast Central African country, large parts of which are overrun by militia violence.

Announcing the date at a ceremony in Kinshasa Saturday, the electoral body, CENI, outlined several challenges, including the logistics of transporting ballot materials thousands of miles, health concerns about Ebola and COVID-19, and unrest that has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

But the government has pledged to stick to the timetable in the country of 80 million people.

“It is not a question of negotiating with the constitutional deadlines, it is a question of us respecting them and consolidating our democracy,” said government spokesman Patrick Muyaya.

He said that the election will cost about $600 million, more than $450 million of which has already been budgeted.

Election struggles are common in Congo. The last presidential poll, Congo’s first democratic transition, was delayed by two years until it was finally held in December 2018. In that vote, President Felix Tshisekedi took over from his long-standing predecessor Joseph Kabila.

This time, similar challenges remain.

Candidates are expected to be announced in October next year, with a final list due in November. Tshisekedi is expected to run again, and one likely challenger is Martin Fayulu, who claimed victory in the 2018 poll.

Presidents are limited to two terms under Congolese law.

Despite billions of dollars spent on one of the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping forces, more than 120 armed groups continue to operate across the east, including M23 rebels, which Congo has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting. Kigali denies the accusations.

The M23 has staged a major offensive this year, seizing territory, and forcing thousands of people from their homes. 
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M23 rebels were still fighting and advancing on one front of their offensive in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on Friday as a cease-fire came into force, civilian and military sources said. 

Clashes continued after the 1700 GMT deadline to cease fire near Bwiza, about 40 kilometers north of the provincial capital, Goma, local people told AFP by telephone. 

“M23 is at Bwiza,” an administrative source said, adding that the rebels had taken over several villages in the area. 

AFP was unable to independently confirm the account. 

Bwiza was the stronghold of former Congolese Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, who operated there in the 2000s.

Fighting also took place during the day between the M23 and a Hutu militia in Bambo, 70 kilometers from Goma. 

“Heavy weapons fire can be heard. People are in a panic,” a civil society representative told AFP. 

A security source confirmed fighting between the M23 and soldiers from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu faction present in the DRC since the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda. 

Calm seemed to have returned to Bambo as evening fell. 

The situation appeared more settled 20 kilometers north of Goma, where a front line has formed during the last two weeks close to the town of Kibumba on national Highway 2. 

DRC’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta met in Angola on Wednesday, agreeing to a deal on the cessation of hostilities in eastern DRC starting Friday evening local time. 

M23 rebels were to withdraw from “occupied zones,” and if they did not, the East African regional force would intervene. 

But the rebels, a largely Congolese Tutsi militia, said Thursday that the cease-fire “doesn’t really concern us” and called for direct talks with DRC’s government. 

“Normally when there is a cease-fire it is between the two warring sides,” a spokesman for the rebels added. 

On Friday, Bertrand Bisimwa, president of the M23, put out a statement in English saying that his group “accepts the cease-fire as recommended” by the Luanda summit. But he called on Kinshasa “to respect said cease-fire. Otherwise the M23 reserves itself the full right to defend itself.” 

The March 23 group had been dormant for years but took up arms again late last year. 

The DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting the rebels, a charge Kigali denies. 

The rebels have recently seized swaths of mountainous Rutshuru territory north of Goma, a city of 1 million that they briefly captured 10 years ago. 

Kinshasa has refused to engage with the M23, which it calls a terrorist movement, as long as it occupies territory in the DRC. 

The M23 is one of scores of armed groups that have turned eastern DRC into one of Africa’s most violent regions. 

Many such armed groups are legacies of two wars before the turn of the century that sucked in countries from the region and left millions dead. 
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Uganda closed schools nationwide on Friday to curb the spread of Ebola, despite the health minister insisting to AFP that new cases had declined.

The directive to close schools two weeks before the end of term was announced earlier this month following the deaths of eight children from the highly contagious disease. 

But in recent weeks, the number of new infections registered in the capital, Kampala, and the epicenters of Mubende and Kassanda has declined, Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng told AFP.

“The major breakthrough in this fight against Ebola for Uganda is that the communities have realized that Ebola is deadly and it kills,” she said. 

“We encourage the population to remain alert and cooperate with the health teams if we are to win this battle and there are signs Uganda is winning,” she added.

Uganda’s WHO office said Thursday that as of November 22, no case had been declared for nine days in Kamapala, 10 days in Mubende and 12 days in Kassanda.

The outbreak has claimed 55 lives out of 141 known cases, according to Ugandan authorities, who have imposed lockdowns in Mubende and Kassanda.

The measures include a dusk-to-dawn curfew, a ban on personal travel and the closure of markets, bars and churches.

At a school in Kampala, one parent told AFP he was relieved to take his child home.

“I think this early closure was really necessary, because of the situation, the Ebola situation in the country,” said banker Joab Baryayaka. “We trust they are safer with us than staying at school, where we cannot guarantee the situation.”

Since the outbreak was declared in Mubende on September 20, the disease has spread across the East African nation.

President Yoweri Museveni has repeatedly ruled out imposing nationwide COVID-like restrictions.

According to WHO criteria, an outbreak of the disease ends when there are no new cases for 42 consecutive days — twice the incubation period of the disease.

The strain now circulating is known as the Sudan Ebola virus, for which there is no vaccine, although several would-be jabs are heading toward clinical trials.

Ebola is spread through bodily fluids. Common symptoms are fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhea. 

Outbreaks are difficult to contain, especially in urban environments.
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Tanzanian authorities have started rationing electricity because of a drop in hydropower generation brought on by drought, the national provider said Wednesday, with some areas set to suffer nine-hour outages. 

The East African nation has the capacity to generate nearly 1,695 megawatts through hydropower, natural gas and other means. 

But it is facing a shortage of 300 to 350 megawatts, Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco) managing director Maharage Chande said. 

“There are two major reasons which have caused the shortages in generation: prolonged drought and ongoing maintenance in some of our plants,” Chande told reporters in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, on Wednesday. 

The affected plants include Kihansi in southeast Morogoro region, whose capacity has fallen from 180 megawatts to 17 megawatts, he said. 

“Water levels have decreased in most sources, forcing our plants to generate below their capacity,” Chande said. 

The country is trying to increase its hydropower capacity, including through the construction of the controversial Julius Nyerere dam project in the Selous Game Reserve, which is expected to produce 2,100 megawatts once operational. 

Tanzania, like its East African neighbors, has been experiencing poor rainfall and delayed monsoons, leading authorities to impose water rationing in Dar es Salaam last month because of a drought-induced fall in water levels. 

Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are in the grip of the worst drought in four decades after four failed rainy seasons wiped out livestock and crops.
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An attack by suspected Islamic extremists on a camp outside Gao sheltering individuals who had fled violence in northern Mali has left 11 people dead, officials said Thursday. 

The assailants also destroyed the camp’s food stocks and stole all the livestock, former Gao Mayor Sadou Diallo said. 

The U.N. confirmed Monday’s attack in a statement, although authorities in the Gao region have not yet reported it. 

“These [internally displaced people] fleeing insecurity are doubly affected by the violence of this attack, further exacerbating their vulnerability,” said U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Alain Noudehou. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attack bore the hallmarks of militants linked to the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara group, which targets civilians in the Gao and Menaka region.

The attack near Gao came amid growing fears about extremist violence in Mali following the departure of French forces earlier this year after nine years of helping fight militants in the West African country. France’s departure came amid deteriorating relations with Colonel Assimi Goita, who seized power in Mali two years ago.

Goita has become increasingly isolated from Mali’s onetime international partners. The U.K. recently announced it would be withdrawing its 300 peacekeepers from Mali, saying the country’s growing reliance on Russian mercenaries was undermining stability.
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A circle of drummers plays on weekends in New York’s Central Park to bring some African rhythm to the city and teach others how to do the same. Ginny Niwa reports
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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari opened the first oil drilling site in the country’s north Tuesday, saying it will bring energy security and economic development.

The fresh source of oil comes as Nigeria’s production ranking has dropped from Africa’s top spot due to the theft of oil in the Niger Delta. Nigeria’s state oil company said the northern Kolmani fields could hold as much as 1 billion barrels of oil, but analysts question whether locals stand to benefit.

The Kolmani River Field is located between Bauchi and Gombe states in northeastern Nigeria – a region that has been battling Islamist militants for years.

It’s the first time Nigerian authorities have turned to another source of crude oil outside the Niger Delta region. Crude oil was first discovered there by the privately operated NNPC Limited in 2019.

President Buhari said at the launch Tuesday the Kolmani River Field holds up to 1 billion barrels of oil reserves, about 14 billion cubic meters of gas.

The president said the new project will include upstream production, oil refining, power generation, and fertilizer production. He said it already has attracted three billion dollars’ worth of investment.

Buhari spoke in a televised broadcast during the launch.

“This discovery had emanated from our charge to NNPC to re-strategize and expand its oil and gas exploration footprints. Similar activities across the other basins are currently actively ongoing,” he said.

The project is expected to produce up to 50,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Buhari said the project will benefit locals through job creation, energy security, financial security and community development.

Nigeria now ranks seventh on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ crude oil production list, according to the group’s November oil market tally.

Authorities blame massive theft in the Niger Delta region for the decline and have been trying to boost production.

Emanuel Afamia, the founder of Enermics Consulting Limited, said past mistakes made in the Niger Delta region must be avoided this time around.

“The government should have learned from that and then be able to provide or create an enabling environment for people residing in that community to actually earn a living. They have to provide the infrastructure that would make it such that the drilling activities in that area will not affect the source of living of the people,” said Afamia.

Afimia said the new drilling project needs more investment to be able to contribute significantly to Nigeria’s oil output.

“We’ve discovered a new site but then, what really is the plan for developing it? What really is the plan for building infrastructures necessary for producing oil in that place? The access to finance plays a huge role in this,” said Afimia.

Another oil and gas analyst, Toyin Akinosho, said success includes thinking about how oil production can benefit people.

“If we just think in terms of compensating, not just about money but also engaging communities ensuring that people have access to basic health care, education, that’s already a very treasured land where they’re sitting on, so they shouldn’t be living in penury; it doesn’t matter if it is in Delta or the northeast,” said Akinosho.

Nigeria is hoping to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060 using gas as a transition fuel.

Buhari has urged NNPC Limited and its partners to ensure harmonious relationships with host communities.
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Traders working on Cameroon’s border with Equatorial Guinea say Malabo has partially reopened border traffic a day after partial election results indicate Teodoro Obiang Nguema will extend his 43-year rule. The 80-year-old Nguema, the world’s longest-ruling head of state, came to power in a 1979 coup and has since ruled the west African nation with an iron fist.

Merchants from Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria say they were permitted to enter Equatorial Guinea Wednesday.

Equatorial Guinea closed its borders October 30 ahead of its November 20 elections and said it wanted to prevent what it called “infiltration of mercenaries who want to destabilize the elections.”

Cameroon-born building material exporter Pierre Marie Mihamle says several hundred traders entered Equatorial Guinea a day after the central African state’s government announced November 20 elections results.

He says the re-election of Obiang as president of Equatorial Guinea means the movement of goods and persons to the central African state will be frequently interrupted or meticulously controlled. Mihamle says foreign nationals who speak against Obiang will be chased from Equatorial Guinea.

Mihamle said Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo Brazzaville are members of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, or CEMAC, but Obiang regularly orders the deportation of foreign citizens, citing national economic and security concerns.

Obiang’s ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea, or the PDGE, is winning over 98% of the vote in presidential, legislative, and municipal elections held Sunday, according to preliminary election results released this week by Equatorial Guinea’s interior minister, Clemente Engonga Nguema Onguene. The results indicate that Obiang’s challengers, Andrés Esono Ondo of the CPDS party and former ally Buenaventura Monsuy Asumu of the PCSD, got 1.34% and 0.35% of the vote.

The final results of the one-round election will be announced November 26, according to Equatorial Guinea’s electoral laws. The 80-year-old Obiang is Africa’s longest serving leader. He took power from his uncle, Francisco Macías Nguema, in an August 1979 coup.

Ngah Derrick is an international relations specialist at Cameroon’s National Institute of International Relations. He says Equatorial Guinea should not expect any changes from Obiang, who has ruled the country with an iron fist.

“Obiang has done everything to eternalize power,” said Derrick. “The reigning vice president of the country that is his son is the vice president of the Republic and it tells you that he is gradually grooming his son in order to be able to ascend to the highest office of magistracy of the state in Equatorial Guinea in case he [Obiang] becomes tired, sick or in case of death.”

Obiang’s son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, is Equatorial Guinea’s vice president. Equatorial Guinea’s political opposition says Obiang’s rule is marked by favoritism, persecution and torture of political opponents. Santiago Oliveira, who led Obiang’s election campaign in Cameroon, denies the charges. He says the long-serving central African state’s leader should be credited with bringing development to his country.

He says Obiang has transformed Equatorial Guinea from a very poor and heavily indebted country it was in 1980, to an emerging economy today.

Oliveira said Equatorial Guinea civilians who voted in Cameroon should wait for Malabo to declare election results. He said all civilians should rally behind Obiang as he continues managing affairs of the state in the country’s general interest.

The United Nations says Equatorial Guinea has an annual oil revenue of more than $3 billion, but most of its 1.5 million people live in abject poverty. The nation’s opposition parties say most of the wealth is in the hands of Obiang, his family and friends.
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Nigeria began drilling for oil and gas in the northeast on Tuesday, a first for the African oil giant, which has exploited large deposits in the south for decades and whose production is declining.

President Muhammadu Buhari visited the Kolmani field, located in Gombe and Bauchi states and with estimated reserves of over 1 billion barrels of crude, to inaugurate the drilling site.

“The successful discovery of the Kolmani Oil and Gas field by NNPC [Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited] and her partners has finally broken the jinx” after long efforts to find commercial oil and gas outside the established Niger Delta Basin, Buhari said in a statement.

In addition to drilling, the project — which has attracted $3 billion in investment — aims to open an oil refinery, a gas processing unit, a power plant and a fertilizer factory, according to the presidential statement.

Buhari in his comments also urged the oil company and partners “to ensure all lessons learnt from our years of experience as an oil-producing nation are utilized to ensure harmonious relationship with the local communities.”

Oil exploitation in Nigeria began in the 1960s in the southeastern Niger Delta region.

Decades of production have enriched government officials and generated huge profits for large foreign companies in particular, but the majority of Nigerians, especially in the oil-rich Delta region, continue to live in poverty.

The region suffers badly from pollution, and tens of thousands of people now make a living from stealing crude oil from pipelines or at sea, from illegal refineries that have sprung up in swampy and forested areas, and from selling fuel on the black market, causing ecological disasters.

This insecurity in the sector has significantly increased the cost of producing Nigerian oil, and major foreign oil companies are now ceding their share of onshore oil fields to focus on offshore operations.

In September, Nigeria lost its position as the largest oil producer on the African continent to Angola as its oil production continued to decline despite rising prices linked to the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

In addition to a severe economic crisis, Africa’s most populous country also faces widespread insecurity, with attacks by criminal groups and a jihadist insurgency in the north, and separatist unrest in the southeast.

In the face of these problems, Nigerian voters will go to the polls in February to elect a successor to Buhari, who is stepping down after two terms.

On Tuesday, Buhari also reiterated Nigeria’s goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2060.
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved financing to cope with rising global food prices for Malawi, the first low-income country to receive the help. The number of Malawians facing food insecurity has doubled to 20% of the population due to low crop production and increasing prices for fertilizers and seeds. Malawi’s government says the funds will also help address a lack of foreign exchange that has caused a fuel shortage in the country.

Malawi is facing a challenging economic and humanitarian situation, with foreign exchange shortages and an exchange rate misalignment that has led to a sharp decline in imports including fuel, fertilizer, medicine, and food.

The IMF said in a statement released Monday that about 20 percent of the country’s population was projected to be acutely food insecure during the 2022/23 lean season which starts from October to March, more than twice as many people as during the same time last year.

Government authorities say the approval of $88 million to Malawi under the new ‘food shock window’ of the IMF’s Rapid Credit Facility will help address some of those challenges.

Sosten Gwengwe is Malawi’s finance minister.

“Of course, every little (bit) helps. Most important is to be able to have a forex market that is efficient, that is able to work on its own and we are working very hard to build reserves at the Reserve Bank of Malawi so that we are able to normalize the forex market”

The IMF introduced the food shock loan in September for countries that have urgent balance-of-payment needs due to food insecurity, a sharp increase in their food import bill or a shock to their cereal exports.

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera wrote on his Twitter account Tuesday that the funding “signals new dispensation of trust from bilateral and multilateral global institutions.”

Chakwera said his administration is currently reorienting the fiscal and monetary system to achieve sustainable economic growth.

The issue also brought excitement in the Malawi Parliament Tuesday when the leader of the Malawi National Assembly, Richard Chimwendo Banda, briefed lawmakers.

“Madam deputy speaker, this is a celebration and people who are against me may not be Malawians,” said ChimwendoI. “Today,I am celebrating, and I am happy. Malawi shall rise again, and Malawi is rising again”

However economic experts say Malawi should find its own means of addressing economic challenges rather than relying on borrowing money from lending institutions.

They say, for example, Malawi should invest in programs that would increase its exports base rather than relying on imports.

The IMF funding comes at a time when Malawi is facing fuel problems largely because of lack of foreign exchange.

Information minister Gospel Kazako told the state-run Malawi Broadcasting Corporation Tuesday that the IMF assistance does not mean an immediate end to all challenges facing Malawi.

“It does not mean that things will change by next week. It doesn’t mean that things are going to change tomorrow,” he said. “Because we still need to do much more, we still need to work very, very hard. We want to come up with an economy that is built on concrete and an economy that is strong.”

In the meantime, Malawi is waiting for approval of another chunk of funding from the IMF known as Extended Credit Facility.
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Botswana has approved the use of injectable anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to improve adherence to HIV treatment. Minister of Health Edwin Dikoloti says the injections, given every two months, are more convenient than daily pills, which patients sometimes skip. 

Health Minister Edwin Dikoloti said the use of injectable ARV medication will start next year, after the recent approval of the drug.

“(The) government is working on introducing the injectable anti-retroviral medication soon. Botswana has, through the professional guidance of the clinical guidelines committee, adopted the use of injectable antiretroviral medicines given every two months, for both prevention and treatment,” said Dikoloti.

Minister Dikoloti said the move will help alleviate concerns that patients are skipping their daily oral dose.

“The injectable ARVs, for both prevention and treatment, will no doubt improve adherence to the HIV treatment in our country. The injectable ARV medication formula comprises cabotegravir and rilpivirine. The cabotegravir injection has already been registered by the Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority while rilpivirine is still undergoing the registration process,” said Dikoloti.

HIV activist Bonosi Bino Segadimo said the introduction of injectable medication will not only help with compliance but could reduce the stigma associated with the virus that causes AIDS.

“I believe the injectable ARVs will help a lot of people in terms of adherence because a lot of defaulting is caused by taking a pill every day. Some say the bottles (for oral pills) cause a lot of attention when they are in public from their appointments (at health facilities). It’s not that everyone on (ARV) treatment has accepted their status. It is a relief for those who find it hard going around a bottle of medication.”

In 2019, the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute conducted clinical trials to determine the efficacy of the injectable drug.

The study proved the drug is safe and highly effective for HIV prevention.

Kennedy Mupeli is a programs officer at Center of Youth for Hope, a non-governmental organization that targets young people living with HIV in Botswana.    

“We are so excited as activists that HIV medication has actually evolved to this level. Who knows, in the near future this will be taken twice a year. This could also encourage people to test because people have this phobia for daily pills,” said Mupeli.

With the world’s fourth largest prevalence of HIV infections, Botswana becomes the second country in Africa, after South Africa, to adopt the use of the injectable ARV drug.   

 
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The Democratic Republic of Congo’s president met with his Kenyan counterpart Monday in Kinshasa to discuss security in the country and the region, before meeting later this week with the president of Rwanda about rebel activity causing tension between the neighboring nations.

The two leaders, Felix Tshisekedi and Kenyan President William Ruto, met a week after Kenya sent some 900 troops as part of the East African regional force to eastern Congo to quell the violence and disarm the rebels operating in the area.

Ruto reaffirmed his country and the East African Community regional bloc’s commitment to help Congo build a stable nation.

“We are committed under the East African Community to do whatever it takes to support his excellency, the president, to support the government of DRC and the people of DRC so that we can have peace in this country,” Ruto said. “It’s in our interest, collectively and individually, that we have a peaceful region.”

There are peace talks planned in Angola’s capital where President Tshisekedi is expected to meet Rwandan President Paul Kagame after months of tension between the two neighbors over the rebellious activities in eastern Congo.

Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group against its forces, a claim denied by Kigali.

Planned talks in Nairobi between the Congolese government and the rebel groups that were scheduled for Monday have been postponed.

Blaise Karege, an independent political and security researcher in eastern Congo, said the success of talks between Kinshasa and Kigali can help ease tensions in the eastern part of the country.

“They should give more attention to the talks in Luanda, and the president should continue to engage the Congolese people inside the country,” Karege said in Swahili. “The president needs to start the peace talks among all the Congolese people and we know what the Congolese want. The Congo’s crisis needs to be solved by the Congolese themselves and their leaders inside the country not outside.”

The resurgence of the rebel group M23 has threatened the peace in eastern Congo and displaced thousands in recent weeks.

There is an ethnic component to the fighting in North Kivu. M23 is made up mainly of Tutsis and has accused the Congo government of failing to protect their families against other rebel groups in the region led by Hutus.

The group has vowed to continue fighting until they are assured of their safety against other rebel groups and the Congolese army.

Joel Baraka is a conflict and resolution researcher at the Pole Institute, a Congolese think tank. He said the president’s policy throughout has been not to engage any talks with rebel groups in the country.

“Many countries would like to see dialogue. They have a lot of interest in Congo, they have companies… and they don’t like to see conflict,” he said in Swahili. “For the president there is an upcoming election, and he wants to keep his promise. He has a lot of fears that if he speaks to the rebels, he can lose credibility among the Congolese people.”

The East Africa regional bloc has agreed to send thousands of troops to help Congo establish and maintain peace.

In recent months there have been planned street demonstrations against the presence of United Nations peacekeeping troops and other forces in Congo for failing to protect civilians.

Last week, former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta visited DR Congo and Rwanda. Kenyatta said Rwanda has assured him that they will use their influence to speak to the M23 rebel group as part of their effort to help with the peace process.
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